Through the 2004 WIC Reauthorization Act of 2004, to further address growing concerns about childhood obesity, Congress established a requirement that each local educational agency that participates in the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s (USDA’s) school meals programs establish a local wellness policy. The California Department of Education provided leadership, training and resources to support the implementation of these locally developed school wellness policies, which were to incorporate:
- Goals for nutrition education, physical activity, and other school-based activities designed to promote student wellness
- Nutrition guidelines for all food available on each school campus during the school day
- Assurance that guidelines for reimbursable meals were met, and not less restrictive than federal regulations and guidance issued by the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA)
- Involvement of parents and guardians, students, school food-service professionals, school administrators, school board members, and members of the public in development of the wellness policy
- A plan for measuring implementation of the wellness policy
On December 13, 2010, President Obama signed the Healthy, Hunger-Free Kids Act of 2010 (Act), reauthorizing the Child Nutrition Programs. The Act added Section 9A to the Richard B. Russell National School Lunch Act (42 U.S.C. 1758b), Local School Wellness Policy Implementation. The provisions enhanced the previous local school wellness policy requirements, strengthening requirements for ongoing implementation, assessment, and public reporting of wellness policies and expanding the team of collaborators participating in the wellness policy development to include more members from the community. The Food and Nutrition Service (FNS) anticipates issuing a proposed rule addressing the new requirements in fall 2012. The public will have an opportunity to comment on the rule.
The 2010 Healthy, Hunger-Free Kids Act requires the local school wellness policy, at a minimum, to include the additional objectives:
- Designate one or more school officials as appropriate to ensure that each school complies with the local school wellness policy
- Include goals for nutrition promotion in the local school wellness policy (to be further defined by FNS more clearly in future technical assistance materials)
- Expand the purpose of the team of collaborators beyond development to include implementation of the local school wellness policy with periodic review and updates
- Inform and update the public about the content and implementation of the local school wellness policies
The California Department of Education recommends that districts become aware of the changes and begin reviewing their local wellness policies during the upcoming School Year 2011-12, and to the extent possible, begin moving forward on implementing the new requirements. For example, districts should be working toward developing a reasonable method to inform and update the public about their implementation of local wellness policies. Some suggestions include disseminating printed or electronic materials to their community and posting information on their district Web site.
The USDA policy memorandum SP 42-2011 (PDF; Outside Source) is available on the FNS School Policy Web page for your reference. This memorandum provides more detailed information about the requirements and recommended actions for the School Year 2011–12. Districts may also find it helpful to consult the local school wellness policy reference materials and sample policies on the FNS Local Wellness Policy Web page (Outside Source).
Other Resources:
School Nutrition…by Design! (PDF; 1.1MB; 45pp.) - A tool that provides the design principles behind developing a healthy school nutrition environment. It provides quality indicators within each design principle that, taken together; reflect the “ideal” for a school nutrition environment. It also provides recommended strategies the school community can implement to create a nutrition environment that supports the development of healthy lifestyles during and after school. Finally, it provides a set of resources and examples that change managers within the school community can use while “designing” their own implementation strategies.
California School Boards Association (Outside Source) - The association hosts a Web site that provides a number of resources, including a model local school wellness policy template and two guides: Student Wellness: A Healthy Food and Physical Activity Policy Resource Guide and Monitoring for Success: Student Wellness Policy Implementation Monitoring Guide and Report.
Action for Healthy Kids (Outside Source) addresses childhood undernourishment, obesity and prevention by working with schools to help kids learn to eat right and be active every day. The Web site contains many school wellness policy resources.
The Healthy Meals Resource System (Outside Source) has pulled together a resource page for each state, which includes materials from team nutrition grants, state organizations, local success stories, state tools, and many other resources.
If you have any questions, please contact Heather Reed, Nutrition Education Consultant, Education and Nutrition Policy Unit at 916-323-3681 or by e-mail at hreed@cde.ca.gov.
